Charging Up the Car Industry

The electrification of the car industry is pushing demand for batteries steadily upwards, with the number of electric and hybrid vehicles anticipated to reach over 90 percent of market share by 2050—up from less than 10 percent in 2018—while the annual production of cars worldwide is expected to double by then. To meet this demand, the production capacity for batteries is predicted to see a seventeen-fold increase measured in gigawatt hours within the same time frame.

LG Chem, number four in the world’s most valuable chemical companies, has over twenty years of experience in the battery market. In 2018, the company built Europe’s largest plant for lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. The factory near Wrocław in Poland is four times larger than Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 in the United States. More than fifty production lines supply European car manufacturers with individual cells and complete modules. While the growth forecasts are favorable, LG Chem needs to adapt constantly to very dynamic market conditions. To maintain unprecedented demand and growth, optimization of processes and alignment with OEMs are key.